The negative state relief model predicts that:

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

First, let's restate the core idea of the negative state relief model to frame the analysis. The theory suggests people help others in order to alleviate their own negative emotions, especially when they are currently feeling bad and have limited options for relieving that distress.
Option A: 'Helping is a negative state.' This is an incomplete framing. It incorrectly identifies helping itself as a negative state rather than a behavior motivated by reducing negative affect, so it misses the motivational mechanism.
Option B: 'Helping is more likely only when one feels good.' This contradicts the model. If someone already feels good, there is less pressure to relieve negative states, so this option does not align with the idea that distress reduction drives helping.
Option C: 'Helping is more likely when one feels bad and has no other way to relieve that feeling.' This matches the negative state relief hypothesis: distress motivates helping as a strategy to restore a baseline emotional state, particularly when alternative relief options are limited. It captures both the aversive state and the dependence on available relief pathways.
Option D: 'Helping is greater after confessing one’s sins.' This introduces a specific context (confession) that is not a general prediction of the negative state relief model. While confession might influence social dynamics, it is not the general mechanism described by the model for helping behavior.
In summary, the key idea is distress-driven helping when individuals are experiencing negative affect and lack other relief avenues, which is precisely what option C expresses. The other options either misidentify the emotional state implicated, misstate the condition under which helping increases, or introduce an unrelated context that does not reflect the model's core prediction.

PSYC20009_2025_SM2 Exam: Personality and Social Psychology (PSYC20009_2025_SM2)- Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

The negative state relief model predicts that:

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